Jane Namukobe

Traditional plants used for medicinal purposes by local communities around the Northern sector of Kibale National Park, Uganda

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE The study was done to establish medicinal plants used in the treatment of various diseases by the people in the Northern sector of Kibale National Park in western Uganda. It was also aimed at establishing the plant parts used and the mode of preparation of remedies. These plants create a basis for phytochemical evaluation which can lead to the discovery of biologically active compounds that can be used as starting materials in the development of new drugs targeting selected diseases such as malaria. MATERIALS AND METHODS The required information was obtained using open interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and transect walks. RESULTS Different medicinal plants (131 species) distributed over 55 families were observed to be used by the local communities around the Northern sector of Kibale National Park. The plants as reported in this paper are used to treat 43 physical illnesses/diseases. The most used parts of the plants are the leaves. Water is the main medium used for the preparation of the remedies which are mostly administered orally. CONCLUSION The people in the study area have a rich heritage of traditional plants that are used in the health care system to treat diseases. These medicinal plants have contributed significantly to several disease therapies. The most common diseases treated are malaria and cough, which are mostly treated by Vernonia amygdalina Del. and Albizia coriaria Welw. respectively. The main sources of medicinal plants include bush land, home gardens, grasslands, and the forest.

Antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities of medicinal plants traditionally used in the village of Kiohima, Uganda.

AIM OF THE STUDY In Uganda, malaria is the most common disease and Ugandan people largely rely on traditional medicine. In this context, we carried out an ethnobotanical study on the Kiohima village, located close to the Kibale National Park in South-Western Uganda and investigated in vitro the antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities of selected medicinal plants. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy-five plants-using adults (men and women) were interviewed to find out their plant use. From these information, 48 plants used in traditional medicine were identified and according to their reported uses and to bibliographic data, several parts of 28 plants (leaves, barks, roots), were selected and collected for biological evaluations. These samples were dried, extracted with ethyl acetate and the crude extracts were assayed for in vitro antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities at 10 μg/mL. RESULTS One third of the screened plants showed a significant antiplasmodial activity with inhibition greater than 50% at 10 μg/mL. CONCLUSION These results may indicate a possible explanation of the use of some medicinal plant against malaria in the village of Kiohima and have also allowed to highlight a plant with potent antimalarial activity: Citropsis articulata root barks.

Cycloartane triterpenes from the leaves of Neoboutonia macrocalyx L.

Neoboutonia macrocalyx is used by people in south western Uganda around Kibale National Park in the treatment of malaria. Phytochemical investigation on the leaves of this plant led to the isolation of nine cycloartane triterpenes (1-9) and one phenanthrene; 7-methoxy-2,8 dimethyl-9,10-dihydrophenantherene-3,6 diol (10) along with three known compounds which included 22-de-O-acetyl-26-deoxyneoboutomellerone (11), mellerin B (12) and 6-hydroxystigmast-4-en-3-one (13). The chemical structures of the compounds were established mainly through a combination of spectroscopic techniques. The isolated compounds were evaluated for antiplasmodial activity against the chloroquine-resistant FcB1/Colombia strain of Plasmodium falciparum and for cytotoxicity against the KB (nasopharyngeal epidermoid carcinoma) and MRC-5 (human diploid embryonic lung) cells. Seven out of 13 compounds exhibited good antiplasmodial activity with IC50 of ⩽5μg/ml with two compounds exhibiting low cytotoxicity and five compounds having significant cytotoxicity.

Antiplasmodial compounds from the stem bark of Neoboutonia macrocalyx pax

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE The plant Neoboutonia macrocalyx has been reported in traditional medicine to be used in the treatment of malaria. AIM OF THE STUDY To study the in vitro antiplasmodial activity of compounds from the stem bark of Neoboutonia macrocalyx. MATERIALS AND METHODS Compounds were extracted and purified from stem bark of Neoboutonia macrocalyx and their structure identified and confirmed by spectroscopic methods. The crude ethyl acetate extract, aqueous extract and the isolated compounds were evaluated for antiplasmodial activity against the chloroquine sensitive Sierra Leone I (D6) and chloroquine-resistant Indochina I (W2) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. RESULTS Chemical investigation of the ethyl acetate extract of Neoboutonia macrocalyx bark resulted in the identification of one new diterpenoid; neoboutomacroin (1) in addition to the four known compounds which included, a phenanthrene; 3,6-dihyroxy-1,7-dimethyl-9-methoxyphenanthrene (2), a sterol; 3-O-Acetyloleuritolic acid (3) and two diterpenoids; simplexin (4) and montanin (5). Compounds 1 and 5 displayed good antiplasmodial activity of IC50 values less than 10 μg/mL against both strains. However, all the compounds tested displayed high cytotoxic activity against MRC5 cell line with IC50 less than 10 μM. CONCLUSIONS Despite an indirect in vitro antiplasmodial activity of some compounds isolated from the stem bark of Neoboutonia macrocalyx, the identification of these bioactive compounds indicates that they may play a role in the pharmacological properties of this plant.